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Project Overview
Lighter is a perpetual trading protocol that introduces a scalable, secure, transparent, non-custodial, and verifiable order book trading infrastructure within the Ethereum ecosystem. As an application-specific zk-rollup, it employs advanced cryptographic techniques and data structures. Lighter significantly improves the security and fairness of order book trading with its verifiable matching engine, ensuring scalable and efficient market price discovery. Thus, Lighter lays the groundwork for creating new, high-performance, and secure digital trading platforms.
Grayscale Announces Crypto Asset Yield Rankings: HYPE Holders Lead in Yield, CAKE Ranks Highest in Adjusted Earnings Yield
According to BeInCrypto, Grayscale released a crypto asset valuation ranking evaluated based on two metrics: "Token Holder Yield" and "Adjusted Earnings Yield". HYPE topped holder yields at 8.0%, with Lighter (LIT) following closely at 7.9%, and PancakeSwap (CAKE) ranking third at 2.6%, followed sequentially by AERO, UNI, RAY, PENDLE, AAVE, JUP, and CRV. In terms of adjusted earnings yield, CAKE led at 14.4%, with LIT at 14.1% and HYPE at 9.8%, followed sequentially by RAY, AAVE, JUP, SKY, UNI, AERO, and PENDLE. The report showed that five assets on the list had negative holder yields, including AAVE, JUP, and CRV, with CRV at -5.5% and JUP at -2.6%. Grayscale calculates holder yield as staking rewards plus buybacks minus new token issuance, so holders face dilution when new issuance exceeds total yields. While JUP's adjusted earnings yield stands at 3.5%, its holder yield remains negative.
Analyst: Variational's $1.5B FDV valuation is overly optimistic, conservative scenario could put it at just $167M
Odaily News: Blockworks analyst Shaunda Devens posted on X that Polymarket's current FDV valuation of approximately $1.5 billion for Variational is somewhat overly optimistic. This pricing directly applies Hyperliquid and Lighter-level valuation-to-revenue multiples to a platform that still relies on points subsidies. By comparison, the median first-day "FDV / annualized revenue" ratio for recently launched Perp DEX tokens is only 6.3x (Variational is currently around 57x), and within the first month after TGE, trading volume typically drops sharply by a median of 54%.Shaunda added that if conservative assumptions based on historical precedents are adopted (using the median first-day "FDV/annualized revenue" ratio of 6.3x), Variational's fair valuation would be only $167 million, corresponding to a points price of $4.8–$5.4. Even using the highest recent ratio precedent (Lighter's approximately 21.1x), its valuation would still only be about $558 million, corresponding to a points price of $16–$18.However, Shaunda also explained: "To be clear, given that current market risk appetite is clearly in a Risk-on state, we do not believe Variational's valuation at TGE will fall to the extremely conservative range mentioned above. These historical multiples are listed to illustrate that current pre-market OTC pricing may be overly optimistic."
Lighter Founder: All Economic Value of Lighter Will Flow to the Token, with the Equity Structure Converted to a Token Structure at TGE
Lighter founder Vladimir Novakovski published an article on X this morning titled "Equity and Tokens."In the article, Novakovski clarified that all economic value generated by Lighter will belong to token holders.Lighter's original intention has always been to use venture capital to bootstrap the project until the moment of token issuance. Lighter is a U.S. company and exists as a single entity — the entity that issued equity in the years leading up to TGE is the same entity that issued tokens at TGE. Apart from converting to a token cap table at TGE, the equity cap table will have no further function in the future.More specifically, Lighter completed its final equity financing round a few months before TGE, which was oversubscribed by approximately 5 times, attracting over $300 million in capital interest against a $68 million allocation. At that time, all equity stakeholders (including early investors and former employees) were informed of the future plan — that their equity value would only be reflected as holdings on the token cap table — and were given the opportunity to sell their equity stakes. Anyone who disagreed with the philosophy that "all value belongs to the token" could easily exit at a higher valuation. Ultimately, less than 1% of equity holders chose to sell their shares, while the rest chose to stay, thereby supporting Lighter's commitment to "value accruing to the token."
Fun Raises $72 Million in Series A Funding, Led by Multicoin Capital and SignalFire
According to Fortune, payments infrastructure startup Fun has announced a $72 million Series A funding round, co-led by Multicoin Capital and SignalFire, with participation from Infinity Ventures, Pharsalus Capital, and Justin Mateen, co-founder of Tinder. Fun primarily provides cryptocurrency and fiat deposit/withdrawal infrastructure for platforms such as Polymarket, Lighter, and Aave, processing over $18 billion in annual payments. The company plans to use the new funds to expand its team of approximately 30 people.
Bankless Founder: Lighter (LIT) Market Rally Is Back
Odaily reports: Bankless founder David Hoffman reposted Lighter's regulatory update on X and wrote: "Lighter season back on btw."During Lighter's Q3 investor call held last night via webcast, David Hoffman, speaking as an investor, asked: "Given that Lighter has already had extensive prior communication with the CFTC (U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission), do you expect the approval of the DCM (Designated Contract Market) and DCO (Derivatives Clearing Organization) licenses to come earlier than the CFTC's stipulated 180-day review period?"Lighter founder and CEO Vladimir Novakovski responded: "We believe that the extensive prior communication will make the whole process much smoother... The CFTC currently has a lot on its plate, so we can't give an exact timeline yet... However, the CFTC is a fast-moving team internally, so we expect the overall approval process to go relatively smoothly."Previously, David Hoffman reportedly sold all his ETH and rotated into tokens such as LIT, ZEC, and NEAR, with the rotated tokens subsequently significantly outperforming ETH.
Lighter plans to apply for a CFTC derivatives broker license in November, LIT token surges over 15% in a single day.
According to Crypto Briefing, the native token LIT of perpetual futures decentralized exchange Lighter has risen by over 15%, trading at around $3.90. Previously, Lighter announced plans to submit a derivatives license application to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in November 2026. Founder Vladimir Novakovski stated that the team has been communicating with regulators for about a year, with the goal of becoming the first on-chain perpetual futures DEX to secure CFTC regulatory approval. Upon approval, Lighter is poised to provide U.S. institutions with a compliant on-chain trading channel and lay the groundwork for establishing a U.S. operational entity.
Lighter CEO Says DeFi Should Not Be Viewed as an Adversary to Regulators, AI May Drive Financial Democratization
Odaily News: At the inaugural meeting of the U.S. CFTC's Innovation Advisory Committee, Lighter CEO Vladimir Novakovski stated that DeFi has long been misunderstood and should not be viewed as an adversary to regulators. DeFi transactions are recorded on-chain in a verifiable manner, which helps regulators in areas such as transparency, consumer protection, and market fairness. Vladimir Novakovski noted that decentralized, verifiable finance has the potential to become an important part of the U.S. financial infrastructure in the future, particularly in terms of cybersecurity and operational resilience. He added that the industry should push for more technology to evolve toward open-source, verifiable tech stacks. He also stated that AI has the opportunity to drive financial democratization, allowing users to construct bundled trading or investment strategies through AI based on their own judgments about the macroeconomy, industries, and other fields—capabilities that were previously mainly available to high-net-worth individuals and professional fund managers.Vladimir Novakovski pointed out that the main risk AI faces in the financial sector is consumer protection risk—for example, users not understanding how AI models actually function, or models being promoted with misleading claims. Therefore, before AI models are deployed at scale for consumers, it is necessary to establish appropriate sandbox mechanisms and verify the validity and formal verifiability of the models.
Lighter Founder Appointed to CFTC Innovation Advisory Committee
Odaily Odaily: Lighter founder and CEO Vladimir Novakovski posted on X: "As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, I am proud to have been building Lighter here from the very beginning. This year, I have also started doing my small part — serving as a member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Innovation Advisory Committee."Odaily Note: The Innovation Advisory Committee was established to advise the CFTC on complex issues at the intersection of technology, law, policy, and finance.
Robinhood Chain Mainnet Launches, Simultaneously Introducing Tokenized Stocks, Perpetual Contracts, and AI Agent Trading
Robinhood has announced the official launch of the public mainnet for its proprietary Layer 2 network, Robinhood Chain. Built on the Arbitrum technology stack, the chain is positioned as an institution-grade, permissionless, AI-native network specifically designed for Real World Assets (RWA).Robinhood Chain's launch partners include Uniswap, Pleiades, Alchemy, BitGo, and Chainlink. Among them, Uniswap will deploy a dedicated AMM on the chain as the primary public liquidity protocol, while Pleiades will deploy its own AMM as the primary proprietary trading venue. The chain will also offer basic DeFi functionalities such as lending.Eligible users can trade tokenized stocks 24/7 on Robinhood Chain. Simultaneously, Robinhood Earn will introduce USDG-based decentralized lending products within the main app. In certain jurisdictions, the new version of Robinhood Wallet will also support access to Lighter's perpetual contract trading.Robinhood also announced the expansion of its European perpetual contract product range, its official entry into the Canadian market, and the acquisition of a Singapore Capital Markets Services license. Furthermore, Agentic Accounts for crypto trading are planned to begin rolling out in the US soon, allowing AI agents to participate in trading and fund management.Robinhood stated that this update represents its most ambitious global expansion and product vision to date, with the goal of establishing a more direct connection between traditional finance and DeFi, integrating stocks, crypto, RWA, perpetual contracts, and AI trading into a unified financial experience. (The Block)
Bankless founder: Regrets not buying more LIT
Bankless founder David Hoffman posted on X, expressing regret for not buying more Lighter (LIT).Hoffman explained that the logic behind investing in Lighter is simple:1. Exchanges have always been the best business model in the crypto industry;2. Perpetual contracts are still a brand-new track, far from reaching maturity;3. Building an exchange based on zkL2 is currently the structurally optimal solution, offering high security, low operating costs, and high profit margins;4. The product itself is also the strongest on the market, with the lowest latency, the lowest execution costs, and full transparency;5. The engineering team is highly capable, having solved all the technical challenges;6. The company is headquartered in the United States, operates in compliance, and this market remains a largely untapped blue ocean;7. It also serves as an option betting on the "Tokenization of compliant assets";8. Founder Vlad is in the right circles, knows the right people, and has the ambition to do great things.
Worth $7.22 Million: A Certain Whale Bought 9 Tokens in the Past 24 Hours
that, according to Lookonchain monitoring, a certain whale bought tokens worth approximately $7.22 million in the past 24 hours, including 378,129 LIT worth $1.4 million; 6.61 million ENA worth $1.34 million; 3 million ONDO worth $1.34 million; 1.154 million AERO worth $948,000; 241.8 ETH worth $591,000; 2,944 QNT worth $589,000; 61,252 UNI worth $443,000; 1,387 TAO worth $368,000; and 43.3 billion PEPE worth $195,000.
Bankless Founder: Lighter (LIT) Market Rally Is Back
Odaily reports: Bankless founder David Hoffman reposted Lighter's regulatory update on X and wrote: "Lighter season back on btw."During Lighter's Q3 investor call held last night via webcast, David Hoffman, speaking as an investor, asked: "Given that Lighter has already had extensive prior communication with the CFTC (U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission), do you expect the approval of the DCM (Designated Contract Market) and DCO (Derivatives Clearing Organization) licenses to come earlier than the CFTC's stipulated 180-day review period?"Lighter founder and CEO Vladimir Novakovski responded: "We believe that the extensive prior communication will make the whole process much smoother... The CFTC currently has a lot on its plate, so we can't give an exact timeline yet... However, the CFTC is a fast-moving team internally, so we expect the overall approval process to go relatively smoothly."Previously, David Hoffman reportedly sold all his ETH and rotated into tokens such as LIT, ZEC, and NEAR, with the rotated tokens subsequently significantly outperforming ETH.
Holds $41M in long positions with $9.25M in unrealized gains; a whale opened LIT positions 78 days ago and has held HYPE for over a year
: According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a whale holds $41 million worth of LIT and HYPE long positions on Hyperliquid, with $9.25 million in unrealized gains. Among them, a long position of 4.9 million LIT tokens was opened 78 days ago, with $6.46 million in unrealized gains; a long position of 200,000 HYPE tokens was opened 418 days ago, with $2.73 million in unrealized gains. This address has accumulated a total profit of $8.68 million.
Analyst: Variational's $1.5B FDV valuation is overly optimistic, conservative scenario could put it at just $167M
Odaily News: Blockworks analyst Shaunda Devens posted on X that Polymarket's current FDV valuation of approximately $1.5 billion for Variational is somewhat overly optimistic. This pricing directly applies Hyperliquid and Lighter-level valuation-to-revenue multiples to a platform that still relies on points subsidies. By comparison, the median first-day "FDV / annualized revenue" ratio for recently launched Perp DEX tokens is only 6.3x (Variational is currently around 57x), and within the first month after TGE, trading volume typically drops sharply by a median of 54%.Shaunda added that if conservative assumptions based on historical precedents are adopted (using the median first-day "FDV/annualized revenue" ratio of 6.3x), Variational's fair valuation would be only $167 million, corresponding to a points price of $4.8–$5.4. Even using the highest recent ratio precedent (Lighter's approximately 21.1x), its valuation would still only be about $558 million, corresponding to a points price of $16–$18.However, Shaunda also explained: "To be clear, given that current market risk appetite is clearly in a Risk-on state, we do not believe Variational's valuation at TGE will fall to the extremely conservative range mentioned above. These historical multiples are listed to illustrate that current pre-market OTC pricing may be overly optimistic."
Bankless co-founders liquidated their ETH positions in May before allocating to assets such as NEAR and ZEC, all of which gained over 100%.
According to on-chain analyst Ai Yi, Bankless co-founder David Hoffman cleared his ETH position in May and accumulated VVV, NEAR, ZEC, HYPE, and LIT in June. To date, the gains on all the aforementioned tokens he holds have outperformed ETH over the same period, with LIT rising approximately 293%, while NEAR, ZEC, and HYPE have gained roughly 223%, 173%, and 106%, respectively. Hoffman recently reiterated his bullish outlook on the future trajectory of ZEC and NEAR.
After Dumping ETH and Betting on Multiple Altcoins, Bankless Co-Founder Says Altcoin Season Has Arrived
Odaily News: Bankless co-founder David Hoffman posted on X, stating, "We are now in altcoin season, and the real market moment is coming sooner than expected." It is reported that David Hoffman announced the liquidation of his ETH holdings on May 21, and subsequently bought VVV, NEAR, ZEC, HYPE, and LIT, all of which have significantly outperformed ETH.
Consensys Cryptographers Propose Divide-and-Pair Method to Accelerate Elliptic Curve Subgroup Membership Check
This method has been integrated into the open-source library gnark-crypto. The library currently runs on Besu, Linea, go-ethereum, as well as gnark-based systems such as Succinct and Lighter. The related paper has been accepted by the IACR Transactions on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems (TCHES) and will be published at CHES 2027.
Grayscale Announces Crypto Asset Yield Rankings: HYPE Holders Lead in Yield, CAKE Ranks Highest in Adjusted Earnings Yield
According to BeInCrypto, Grayscale released a crypto asset valuation ranking evaluated based on two metrics: "Token Holder Yield" and "Adjusted Earnings Yield". HYPE topped holder yields at 8.0%, with Lighter (LIT) following closely at 7.9%, and PancakeSwap (CAKE) ranking third at 2.6%, followed sequentially by AERO, UNI, RAY, PENDLE, AAVE, JUP, and CRV. In terms of adjusted earnings yield, CAKE led at 14.4%, with LIT at 14.1% and HYPE at 9.8%, followed sequentially by RAY, AAVE, JUP, SKY, UNI, AERO, and PENDLE. The report showed that five assets on the list had negative holder yields, including AAVE, JUP, and CRV, with CRV at -5.5% and JUP at -2.6%. Grayscale calculates holder yield as staking rewards plus buybacks minus new token issuance, so holders face dilution when new issuance exceeds total yields. While JUP's adjusted earnings yield stands at 3.5%, its holder yield remains negative.
Delphi Digital: Lists HOOD, HYPE, and LIT as Speculative Trading Thematic Investment Targets
According to the latest research report published by Delphi Digital, Dealers Always Win: Why Speculation is the Theme of the Next Decade, Robinhood (HOOD), Hyperliquid (HYPE), and Lighter (LIT) are listed as core targets for positioning in this investment theme. In evaluating these assets, Robinhood demonstrates the advantage of an integrated broker bundling event contracts, options, and cryptocurrency distribution; Hyperliquid, leveraging permissionless on-chain perpetuals and expansion protocols such as HIP-3 and HIP-4, is evolving into an on-chain clearing layer supporting multi-asset round-the-clock trading, while continuously repurchasing HYPE through protocol fees; and Lighter, which constructs its order book using zero-knowledge proofs, has also built competitive moats through zero retail fees and cross-platform distribution partnerships. Collectively, they form an infrastructure exposure designed to capture global speculative demand.
Delphi Digital lists Robinhood, Hyperliquid, and Lighter as speculative theme investment targets
Odaily reports: Crypto research firm Delphi Digital has published a report titled "The House Always Wins: Why Speculation Is the Theme of the Next Decade," listing Robinhood (HOOD), Hyperliquid (HYPE), and Lighter (LIT) as targets for participating in this investment theme. The report argues that technological change along with economic and monetary system pressures are jointly driving speculative demand, and proposes allocating to platforms capable of sustainably generating revenue from trading activity, with a focus on profitability, fee-capture capability, and user acquisition advantages. The report's authors disclosed holdings in the aforementioned targets.
21shares Launches Physically Backed ETPs for Lighter (LIT) and Venice Token (VVV) in Europe
21Shares has announced the launch of two physically backed new products: the 21Shares Lighter ETP (LIHT), which tracks the native token LIT of the decentralized perpetual exchange Lighter, and the 21Shares Venice Token ETP (VENC), which tracks VVV, the core asset of privacy-focused AI infrastructure Venice.
Lighter Core launches binary options product, with plans to roll out full options trading service next
Lighter announced its Lighter Core has launched a binary options product, with plans to roll out a full options trading service next.
Related news
Consensys Cryptographers Propose Divide-and-Pair Method to Accelerate Elliptic Curve Subgroup Membership Check
This method has been integrated into the open-source library gnark-crypto. The library currently runs on Besu, Linea, go-ethereum, as well as gnark-based systems such as Succinct and Lighter. The related paper has been accepted by the IACR Transactions on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems (TCHES) and will be published at CHES 2027.
Pump.fun Users' Loss Rate Reportedly as High as 97%, FOMO at 96.5%
Odaily reports: A user loss rate ranking of trading platforms shared by X user SEVEN (@Seven_Nguyen666) shows that Pump.fun tops the list with 97% of users at a loss, followed by FOMO at 96.5%, GMGN at 93%, and both Polymarket and Kalshi at 92.5%.For other platforms, Papertrade has 91% of users at a loss, Maestro 89%, Axiom 87%, Hyperliquid 86%, Lighter 85%, Binance Futures 80%, and Robinhood Chain 73%.SEVEN noted that Pump.fun has drawn attention for its high loss rate, but Binance Futures did not top the list. It should be noted that the ranking did not disclose the original data source, statistical period, or profit-and-loss calculation method, and the relevant data has not been independently verified.
Grayscale Announces Crypto Asset Yield Rankings: HYPE Holders Lead in Yield, CAKE Ranks Highest in Adjusted Earnings Yield
According to BeInCrypto, Grayscale released a crypto asset valuation ranking evaluated based on two metrics: "Token Holder Yield" and "Adjusted Earnings Yield". HYPE topped holder yields at 8.0%, with Lighter (LIT) following closely at 7.9%, and PancakeSwap (CAKE) ranking third at 2.6%, followed sequentially by AERO, UNI, RAY, PENDLE, AAVE, JUP, and CRV. In terms of adjusted earnings yield, CAKE led at 14.4%, with LIT at 14.1% and HYPE at 9.8%, followed sequentially by RAY, AAVE, JUP, SKY, UNI, AERO, and PENDLE. The report showed that five assets on the list had negative holder yields, including AAVE, JUP, and CRV, with CRV at -5.5% and JUP at -2.6%. Grayscale calculates holder yield as staking rewards plus buybacks minus new token issuance, so holders face dilution when new issuance exceeds total yields. While JUP's adjusted earnings yield stands at 3.5%, its holder yield remains negative.
Grayscale Publishes Two Cryptocurrency Asset Return Metric Rankings; HYPE, LIT, and CAKE All Rank at the Top of Both Lists
Grayscale published a crypto asset valuation analysis listing the top 10 tokens by "Token Holder Yield" and "Adjusted Earnings Yield", respectively. The top 10 by Token Holder Yield are HYPE, LIT, CAKE, AERO, UNI, RAY, PENDLE, AAVE, JUP, CRV; the top 10 by Adjusted Earnings Yield are CAKE, LIT, HYPE, RAY, AAVE, JUP, SKY, UNI, AERO, PENDLE.
Dune Launches Real-Time On-Chain Market Data Streams, Covering 12 Networks and Over 200 On-Chain Trading Platforms
Odaily reports: Crypto data analytics platform Dune has announced the launch of real-time market data streams, with spot trading data available within approximately 1 second after a trade is executed, covering more than 200 on-chain trading platforms across 12 blockchain networks, including Solana, Ethereum, Base, BNB Chain, and X Layer; perpetual contract data streams will track trading on Hyperliquid and Lighter.Dune co-founder and CEO Fredrik Haga stated that on-chain trading currently accounts for approximately 25% of total crypto spot trading volume, and as tokenized asset trading develops, market demand for on-chain data continues to grow. Dune said the new data service will help hedge funds, asset managers, market makers, and brokers track on-chain price discovery within their existing market data systems. The company also noted that OKXICE, a joint venture between OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), has submitted an application to list 63 tokenized stocks on X Layer. (The Block)
Worth $7.22 Million: A Certain Whale Bought 9 Tokens in the Past 24 Hours
that, according to Lookonchain monitoring, a certain whale bought tokens worth approximately $7.22 million in the past 24 hours, including 378,129 LIT worth $1.4 million; 6.61 million ENA worth $1.34 million; 3 million ONDO worth $1.34 million; 1.154 million AERO worth $948,000; 241.8 ETH worth $591,000; 2,944 QNT worth $589,000; 61,252 UNI worth $443,000; 1,387 TAO worth $368,000; and 43.3 billion PEPE worth $195,000.